Page 21 of Her Michigan Mob Boss

“Yeah.”

“Did he deal with Cleary or Mulhearn?” I asked.

“Mulhearn. He thinks the asshole’s positioning himself to take over when Cleary dies.”

That matched up with what we already knew.

“Is Cleary sicker than we thought?”

Sean nodded. “Got weeks rather than months, apparently.”

Shit. Cleary didn’t have a son to pass his business onto, but he had a daughter. Leadership rarely passed to a woman in our old-fashioned world. I didn’t know much about his daughter, but she’d left the country a couple of years ago and seemed an unlikely successor. When Cleary died, Mulhearn would take over, and I didn’t relish that prospect. Unlike his boss, he lacked a code of honor.

“That’s a problem for another day,” I said. “Let’s deal with one thing at a time.”

I held my hand out to Sean. Because I’d planned on being with Annie, I hadn’t brought a gun when I left the house. Coming from the U.K, she probably wasn’t used to weapons, and I wasn’t ready to explain to her why I needed one. The presence of my security team already freaked her out. She didn’t say anything, but I could tell how uncomfortable she was around them. If I’d told her I was an Irish mafia boss, she’d probably have run for the hills. Well, she’d have tried to. There was no way I’d have let her go.

Sean passed his Beretta M9 to me. It was a decent weapon. I liked how it felt in my hand, solid and dependable, but not too heavy. I walked up to Ricky, wrinkling my nose at the foul stench of piss. Putting the barrel of my gun beneath his chin, I used it to tilt his head until he faced me. Fuck! My brother really had done a number on him. He was unrecognizable. His nose was broken, his eyes swollen shut. There was a lot I wanted to say to him, but I doubted a lengthy speech would have the desired impact on him. I decided to keep my last words to him short and sweet.

“You could have come to me, Ricky. I’d have protected your kid, but now….”

I let that thought drift on the air. I wouldn’t go after his son, not unless he became a problem for me, but Ricky didn’t have to know that. Let his dying moments be in fear that he’d signed his only son’s death warrant.

Suddenly animated as a surge of panic whipped through him, Ricky jerked upright. He struggled in his chains, babbling some incoherent threat he wouldn’t have the chance to carry out. Stepping back, I aimed and fired off three shots in rapid succession. I should have felt bad for the relief his death brought me, but I didn’t. On the rare occasions I took a life, it was out of necessity. Anyone who became a threat to my family would suffer the same fate.

“Have the body dumped outside Cleary’s new restaurant.” An upscale joint like that wouldn’t weather the storm of a mutilated body being found on its doorstep. “And have someone pay a visit to Mulhearn’s truck depot.”

It was time to hit back hard for the disruption they’d caused us these past few months. I didn’t have to spell out to Sean that I wanted every last truck that asshole owned blown to kingdom come. My brother would take care of it. Some of his men were ex-paramilitaries from the old country. They knew how to blow shit up.

“I’ll get my best lads on it,” Sean confirmed, following Max and I outside. “You’re still coming to the house tonight?” he asked, making it sound as if we had plans.

“What?” I furrowed my brow in confusion as I wracked my brain for what I’d apparently forgotten.

“It’s Emily’s birthday, remember? She’s making dinner.”

Shit! I’d forgotten all about that when I arranged to spend the evening with Annie. Letting my sister down wasn’t ideal, but I didn’t want to miss out on the chance to be with Annie, either.

“I can’t make it.”

“What do you mean, you can’t make it?” Sean demanded, his tone bordering on hostile. With family, he was even less compromising than I was. We both adored our younger sisters, but Sean had made it his mission in life to make sure nobody ever hurt them. His protectiveness put Will and I to shame.

“He met a girl,” Max chipped in helpfully.

Sean’s demeanor changed immediately. A grin spread across his face as he fixed an appraising eye on me. “A girl, huh? Who is she?”

“Just a woman I met.” I tried to sound casual about it. “I said I’d meet her tonight.”

“And you can’t put it off?” Sean asked.

“She’s leaving tomorrow,” Max said. “She’s from Scotland. He met her atLola’s.”

“What was some girl from Scotland doing atLola’s?” Sean knew as well as I did that the place was a shithole.

Mac grinned. “She was looking for her long-lost cousin, Danny Mulhearn.”

I rolled my eyes as Max filled my brother in on the details.

Sean burst out laughing. “And you’ve fallen for this lass?” He sobered when I glared at him. “Bring her to the house.”

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